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Wow! This really hits the mark with me. I have been debating this very question for this whole year. I'm doing a B.Comm degree, majoring in Marketing and Finance, yet I KNOW neither is a field I want to go into. My career goal is to become a buyer and I've been tossing with the idea of just deferring and getting the full time work experience under my belt. I'm so anxious!

However, coming from an extremely corporate family (dad's a chief financial controller, mum's a head accountant, brother's an investment banker, uncle's a CEO... you get my drift) they place really great importance on a HD average degree. I mean I love learning, but it's really hard for me... especially because I'm not getting those HD's. But like S.Mc.C., I'm wondering whether it's really THAT important. The world seems to say yes?

I think it depends on what course/degree you want. I agree with s.Mc.C Yeah, if you want to become a doctor - you will most definitely need a degree and all because you're going to be dealing with anatomys and all. But if you want to be a designer or what not..something that involves a lot of creativity, I think it shouldn't really matter if you have a degree or not.

These days it seems like people prefer to see a piece of paper with your name on it saying that you've completed a certain course because it seems like you're 'very skilled' and experienced in a certain field, but in that perspective.. a piece of paper or your age shouldn't define how well you perform or how creative or innovative you are.

I finished my degree just over a year ago- i was only 19 when I was done but it gives you a lot of discipline and refines your thought processes. Having a degree to employers (from what they tell me), isnt really about the knowledge as much as the fact that you sat down and worked for soemthing for a minimum of three years. And trust me, being 19 with a degree made a lot of people go "WHAT?" but i could see the differences in the way i thought from other people my age, and older as well. It teaches you a lot not only about your subject matter, but how to think, research, communicate and its a pre-requisite for a LOT of jobs. I'm starting to notice a lot of my older friends (mid to late twenties) are actually going back to uni because they are having trouble without a degree. But i guess it depends on what you want to do with your life. Experience + degree seems to be better than jsut experience. Its not so much what you study either- for example a well known accounting firm when I finished my degree recruited 2 engineering graduates to work as accountants simply because their results, interviews and interpersonal skills were better than the accounting graduates.

I think not having a degree can give you an advantage in some fields. You don't fall into the same patterns and you tend to approach things differently. In the right field, this can give you a real edge.

I know it's a terrible example, but in Donald Trump's show, The Apprentice, the 'street smarts' (those without a degree, but with a good level of experience) always beat the 'book smarts' (those with the best degrees from the best universities).

did anybody watch the news once... on the people who are like, millionaires of billionaires...and they're all like highschool drop-outs?... that was quite intruiging.
*sigh* i can't believe i'm back at school in a week .... eeep! im just loving how cruisy life is atm even though ive been working heaps. i actually look forward to work hah.

i think it depends on what degree you're takin. for some courses it really does matter (like doctor, engineer, bla2). but for others such as PR, marketing, management,,do'oh,,,i don't really think that necessary. you can't guarantee someone has a good network and/or interpersonal skills if they got PR degree,,,and how can you teach someone to bluff about a product in uni?anyway most of uni student doesn't end in the field they're takin on uni(this is according to my mom, an HR director for big consulting firm, lol, not scientifically proven though).

dee i think the point is having a degree not what the degree is in. like i said its about discipline. Coop they may be drop outs but they didnt get their sitting on their asses either, it takes a LOT of very very hard work to get to that stage in life. And in PR and Marketing, at entry level, they generally want you to have a degree.

In defense of those of us who make a living working at a university I will say that a university education IS necessary but not for the reasons you may think....

One caveat first before I go on. I can only speak to what I see happening in North America and Europe. In these countries standardized testing is beginning to take a greater hold over the primary and secondary education systems than simple course work. Instructors are now teaching to these tests, not teaching ordinary topics like history, literature, geography, etc.

Free of the restraints of a test based cirriculum, a student can FINALLY get an education at the university level. Yes, obviously they are taking courses that will grant them a piece of paper that will get them hired, but they can also take classes in subjects that interest them, and very well may lead them to their vocation.

And trust me...no one ever said you have to do the uni life in four years straight.

-- LJG

Someone said that a degree int he arts wasnt as important as lets say a lawyer

I personally dissagree entirely.

Im doing a batchelor of visual arts. So far i get alot of people believeing that all i do is stand around and paint all day. This couldnt be further from the truth.

You are forced to open your eyes and have a really good hard look around you at what other people are doing. In effect, you suddently realise how crap and nieve you seriously were in the first place. Sounds bad i know... but finally because of this apifany you are able to look at what you have against other people. Where you are going right and wrong. Its from here that you can take these things and push them to their limits.

I definately wouldnt have the job i currently hold if it wasnt for my university education, and there are many doors that would still remain shut. On the other hand, i definately think that uni isnt the only option.

Post by GeeWiz

Im doing a batchelor of visual arts ... You are forced to open your eyes ... In effect, you suddently realise how crap and nieve you seriously were in the first place.

If only it was the same in straight arts. We were told to open our eyes and swallow the lecturer biased opinion, the only thing which could be correct in even the most opinionated areas of discussion.